THE AUTHORITY OF CATHOLICISM
at home and abroad, the Church, after having sung in 1848
a solemn Te Deum in Notre-Dame in glorification of nascent
democracy, and " claimed as her own the sublime terms of
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity " 1 sang an equally solemn
Te Deum in thankfulness for the 2nd December, and exhibited
to the world a " right-about turn " that " surpassed the most
cynical of political apostasies."2
Curiously enough, the party in the Church most lavish in its
protestations of devotion to the State was the Ultramontane,
not the Gallican. Those who had clamoured most loudly for the
enfranchisement of the Church from " the oppression of a non-
Christian State," even when the monarch was Louis XVIII. or
Louis-Philippe, now gave to the world an unparalleled example
of abject, prostration before the State. It must be confessed, as
Debidour sarcastically remarks,3 that " if the Pope blessed
Napoleon, if bishops extolled him, if priests glorified his sacred
•person, it was only barely fair. Never perhaps had even the
most Christian kings of the ancien regime shown themselves as
complaisant and subservient towards the Holy See and the
French clergy as this ex-carbonaro." Not only were the
Church's legal rights solemnly confirmed and guaranteed on
every possible occasion, but she actually enjoyed privileges far
in excess of what the Concordat formally laid down. For all
practical purposes, Catholicism was not one of the three recog-
nized religions, but the religion of the State, others being
barely tolerated. Cardinals were ex officio Senators; at every
possible function the Church's representatives were in the
place of honour and State officials attended in great pomp all
religious festivals ; her synods and other assemblies took place
without any interference or even previous authorization of the
State; bishops could freely go to and communicate with Rome.
She enjoyed the virtual monopoly of public charity, including
the administration of State grants for the relief of destitution.
1 Bishop of Langres. Cf. Debidour, L'Eglise et Fftat, pp. 483-485, for extra-
ordinary instances of the democratic utterances in 1848 of Church leaders who
were to become the leaders of reaction.
2 Montalembert, Vie de Lacordairt, p. 248.
8 Op.dt., p. 525.
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